City may be stripped of key powers

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A secret report on Sydney's most controversial urban renewal project - the Green Square upgrade - recommends stripping powers from the City of Sydney and transferring planning controls to a new board.

The review, completed last month by the Government Architect, Chris Johnson, pushes for the creation of the new body to supervise an eight-kilometre long housing and business footprint, stretching from Central station to Port Botany and Sydney airport.

The new body would take away critical development functions currently held by the City of Sydney, which had its boundaries expanded earlier this year to include a cluster of important inner-southern suburbs.

It would be given ownership of key government land along the corridor, worth billions of dollars, to give it planning clout and ensure financial viability.

It would replace the South Sydney Development Corporation, a government-backed entity which for eight years has controlled nearly $5 billion in urban renewal and the building of some of the city's biggest apartment and commercial blocks.

It has also developed a local environment plan for Green Square, near Mascot, and a masterplan to rejuvenate the Alexandra Canal, a heavily polluted waterway running through the back of industrial parks, heavy vehicle loading facilities and warehouses.

In property and planning circles, the corporation has been considered a disappointment. Its critics blame its relative failures on a combination of deficient funds, confused roles and responsibilities, and poor co-ordination with government departments.

The Johnson report, a copy of which has been obtained by the Herald, defends the corporation's performance but concedes it needs to expand, broaden its powers and have access to better funding sources to achieve urban design improvements.

Mr Johnson was appointed the corporation's new chairman earlier this year by the Carr Government.

The review was ordered by the Director-General of the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources, Jennifer Westacott, on April 29, just weeks after Clover Moore and her team of independents won office on a mandate of exerting tougher controls on developers.

The report concluded that a "significant amount of development has occurred across the corporation's area but there are still significant problems to resolve, particularly in relation to transport and water management".

It calls for the formation of the South Sydney Urban Renewal Corporation, taking charge of the development of a host of key sites, including the Redfern-Eveleigh-Darlington improvements, the airport perimeter and the ports. Vast tracts of government land would be transferred to the new corporation to boost its coffers and it would act as a co-ordinating body.